SRINAGAR: The condemnation of Pahalgam terror attack in the Brics declaration earned praise for India’s foreign policy from Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday, but the National Conference vice-president hit out at the Centre over what he called an attempt to bring in the Uniform Civil Code through the back door.“The fact that Pahalgam was condemned (at the Brics summit) is significant. Consider how many allies of Pakistan were present in that room. Therefore, for Pahalgam to be mentioned by name, that in itself is a success of our foreign policy,” Omar said while talking to reporters in Srinagar.About China praising India’s foreign policy, he said India should not “seek certificates of approval from other countries”. “The danger with this approach is that tomorrow, if China says something critical about our foreign policy, what will we do then? … We cannot cherry-pick,” he said.On reports that China had scaled back troops along the Line of Actual Control, he said “…anything that reduces tension along the LoC or the LAC is a positive step”.The J&K CM, however, was critical of the central govt for trying to implement the UCC in all NDA-governed states. “Something of this nature should not be decided by individual states; it has to be decided by the country as a whole,” he said, adding that the Centre should introduce a bill in Parliament instead of trying to bring in UCC through the back door.
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Accusing the Modi govt of bypassing Parliament, Omar said, “If they have the numbers, they should bring the UCC bill to Parliament. Why are they doing it through individual states?”The remarks came in the backdrop of Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement on Sunday that the UCC will be implemented in all 21 BJP-NDA states before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.Omar pointed out that NDA partners like TDP, JD(U) and LJP (RV) had chosen to be circumspect about the idea. “Given that even some of their own allies do not support it, I do not think they will be able to get it (UCC bill) passed in Parliament. This is probably the reason why they are choosing this route,” he added.
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